The National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, has entered into a strategic partnership with the European Data Protection Office, EDPO, to enable Nigerian businesses comply with the General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR.
A statement signed on Tuesday by the NITDA’s head of public affairs unit, Hadiza Umar, said the partnership was sealed at the Gulf International Technology Exhibition taking place in Dubai, UAE.
The statement read: “This partnership is a huge step forward in Nigeria’s drive towards compliance with data protection.
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“Nigeria will recall that NITDA issued the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation, NDPR, in January 2019 with the objective of protecting personal data, improve ease of doing business in Nigeria and to create jobs for over 300,000 Nigerians through the unique implementation model of the NDPR.”
According to her, the meeting had in attendance top NITDA officials and Lucia Canga, the Head of the EDPO delegation.
“NITDA has been designated as the contact point for Nigerian entities that seek to comply with the GDPR.
“EDPO would facilitate Nigeria’s aspiration to become the first African country to meet the European Union’s GDPR adequacy requirement which would open Nigerian businesses to opportunities in the European market.
“NITDA would through its licensed Data Protection Compliance Organisations, DPCOs, assist Nigerian entities to be fully compliant with the GDPR thereby ensuring global competitiveness and business continuity,” the statement noted.
The NITDA’s spokesperson further disclosed that the EDPO Representative also had a meeting with the Minister of Communications, Dr. Isa Ali-Pantami who reaffirmed Nigeria’s readiness to partner with EDPO to actualize the country’s objective of improving ease of doing business.
Mrs Umar quoted the minister as saying that Nigerian companies have global relevance in line with President Muhammandu Buhari’s economic diversification agenda.
